Ars Electronica

 Panel Discussion “Art for the Hydrocommons” in the frame of the conference "Negotiating with Water", Ars Electronica 2026. 

With Seila Fernandez Arconada (ES/DE), Laura Colmenares Guerra (CO/BE), Eleni Riga (GR), Sun 13. Sep 2026 (Linz, Austria).

“The hydrocommons is the complex set of connections and permeations between human and non-human bodies of water. It does away with the illusory separation between the two and invites a reimagining of their relations outside capitalist or colonial frames that, in attempts to master, manage, engineer and contain this force of nature, position humanity in opposition to it. Bringing together artists Laura Colmenares Guerra and Seila Fernández Arconada, whose work currently focuses on the Amazon River and coastal territory of Esposende in Portugal as sites where different hydro social relations still co-exist, the discussion unpacks how the notion of the hydrocommons is activated in artistic practices both to question existing water imaginaries and reimagine hydro-social relations”.


“Negotiating with Water”
How do we rethink our relationship with water - not only as a resource, but through our water imaginaries and their legal and geopolitical realities and possibilities?

Presented in the context of S+T+ARTS AQUA MOTION, Negotiating with Water brings together artists, theorists, Indigenous thinkers and legal experts to explore water as a symptom of the socio-political context and to rethink the cultural frameworks that shape our relationship with it.

Across conversations on law, technology, artistic practice, the hydrocommons and more, the programme invites us to think with water and reimagine hydro-social relations across different scales.

Photo showing (left to right):Laura Colmenares Guerra, Seila Fernández Arconada, Eleni Riga
Photos by: Philipp Greindl

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